This invention relates to safety arrangements providing lateral head and body protection for vehicle occupants.
Lateral safety arrangements for protecting vehicle occupants in a side collision have been disclosed in a wide variety of embodiments. Such arrangements are disclosed, for example, in Japanese patent publication No. 3-276844 and German Offenlegungsschrift No. 43 07 175. Further lateral occupant protection arrangements are disclosed in European Application No. 0 611 684 and German Offenlegungsschrift No. 37 41 637, in which airbags are arranged primarily for protection of the occupant's head. The airbags shown in German Offenlegungsschrift Nos. 40 19 596 and 43 07 421, by contrast, serve primarily to restrain the occupant's upper body.